John Heisman is from Ohio

Heisman isn’t just a name for a prestigious trophy, but a true innovator and father of the sport, football. He not only invented the term “hike”, but also the forward pass, having lead blockers on run plays, and dividing the game into quarters. The man who is the namesake of the Heisman Trophy was also born on the near west side of Cleveland in 1869. Throughout his life, John was always interested in playing and teaching football. He started his coaching career at Oberlin College in 1892, where he led his team to an undefeated 7-0 season beating both Michigan and Ohio State. Following the 92′ season, Heisman went to coach at Buchtel (today, the University of Akron) for 2 years. It was there that he made significant gameplay and rule challenges and left his legacy on the sport. He had a 6-2 record as head coach at Buchtel. Due to his coaching success in Ohio, Heisman later became coach at schools such as Auburn, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Penn, and Rice. Following his coaching career in 1927, John became the athletic director at New York’s Downtown Athletic Club. It was this group that started awarding the nation’s most outstanding college football player in 1935. Heisman passed away in October of 1936 before the second trophy could be awarded. The club voted to rename the award to the “Heisman Trophy”.